Vijaybhoomi University (VU), India’s first liberal professional university, has announced its partnership with Lithan, an accredited digital skills accelerator from Singapore, to launch an Apprenticeship pathway programme in BE Software Engineering. The partnership will extend opportunities to students to pursue a 4-year program in software engineering which will include two years of formal education and two years of paid apprenticeship. 

Sanjay Padode, President and Chancellor, VU, Atish Chattopadhyay, Vice-Chancellor, VU, Navneet Sharma, Registrar, Vijaybhoomi University, Leslie Loh, Founder and CEO, Lithan Academy, Kiran Surti, Country Manage, Lithan Academy graced the e-ceremony along with other dignitaries. 

Through this collaboration, Vijaybhoomi University is on its way to design India's first work-study degree programme in Software Engineering, which will empower students to gain deep industry-related competency skills and two years of work experience before graduation. Their innovative 2 + 2 curriculum entails two years of study followed by two years of assured apprenticeship at some of the most prestigious software development companies in the world. This program will allow the students to gain practical experience in a real-world industry setting.

The four-year-long programmes will be taught by faculty from Lithan Academy and Vijaybhoomi University and the admissions open in September. The candidates will be eligible for paid internships with leading firms. The one-of-a-kind learning pedagogy will focus on strengthening KSAs (Knowledge, Skills, and Ability). Using real-life or simulated projects, students will scale up from knowledge acquisition in the classroom to implementing skills and on-the-job skill mastery in the workplace.

With individualized coaching from industry experts, this program will assist students to become industry-ready. On successful completion of the programme, students will be placed in firms in better roles with higher remuneration as compared to their peers from a traditional degree programme.